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Saturday, 4 February 2017

Returning Guest Author Chuck Bowie.

Hey Lucky Us!

Another back-to-back feature on the Scribbler this week and next. We are fortunate to have Author Chuck Bowie from Fredericton, New Brunswick, participate with an essay this week on the topic of his writing. He'll be back next week for an interview with a different format than the regular 4Q you are familiar with.Chuck has been a favored guest on the Scribbler before. I've had the pleasure of reading the Sean Donavan - Thief for Hire series and if you like action novels, great dialogue and clever plots then these are for you.We are posting links to his previous visit below. Please take a few moments to discover more about Chuck and his stories.

Are All Writers ‘One-Trick Ponies’?

Okay, who
is the better writer; Fredericton’s Roger Moore, or Britain’s JK Rowling?
(Harry Potter fans aren’t allowed to vote!) Some would argue Ms. Rowling,
because of the vast number of book sales she’s enjoyed. Others would
argue—compellingly—Mr. Moore, because of the diversity of writing he’s excelled
at. Ms. Rowling has written a brilliant fantasy series, as well as a fairly
average murder mystery. Mr. Moore has written literary analysis, reams of
poetry, fiction (flash and otherwise), essays, academia, non-fiction and much
more.

Where am I
going with this? Two things occur to me as I perform this ridiculous
compare-&-contrast between these two fine writers. My first thought is it’s
madness to compare two very different writers and think you’ll arrive at a
valid conclusion. My second thought is one of wonder. Writing a book is hard
work. Writing a series is really hard work! Writing a series in a certain
subject matter, and then switching to a different genre or subject matter is,
well, taking the challenge up another notch. I admire those who attempt it, and
until now, I’ve wished them well as I plodded along on my one-track series.

But then, I
finished Book 4. My suspense-thriller series about a thief for hire began as a
one-off, with the publication of Three
Wrongs. But I wanted to know how, or if, Donovan, my Thief, would find
redemption. So I wrote a second novel: AMACAT,
which for a time I called a sequel. But a great plot visited me in the night,
and with the publication of Steal It All,
I had a trilogy. But I dislike loose ends, and so a fourth novel: The Body On The Underwater Road is now
being edited and will hopefully be out late this year.

So, it’s a
series.

I confess I
have the rough idea of a fifth novel, but I’ve put it on hold, for the moment.
For some time now, I’ve been dreaming. I’ve been dreaming of a new non-Donovan character,
and she doesn’t occupy the world of the thriller. She’s warm, she lives in a
small town, and nobody swears. At least, they don’t swear much, and then, only
in their mind.

That’s not
a suspense-thriller. That’s a cozy mystery. Add a dead body, a nervous heroine
and a suspicious policeman, and you have a different sub-genre. Am I now
writing a new series? I guess so. And have I moved to a different subject
matter? I guess so. Part of me—the devil on my left shoulder—is telling me I
have a lot of nerve, writing a non-thriller when all I’ve ever had published
are thrillers. The angel on my right shoulder is telling me I have to try.
Sadly, the angel did NOT promise me it would be easy, and she did not slip me a
plotline or three to get me started.

How am I
doing, so far? I began by reading up on cozy mysteries. And early on I decided which
town to modelled my fictional town after. I also determined that, to meet my
personal goal, this fictional New Brunswick town would be imbued with so much
personality, it would have to be considered a character in- and of itself.

The format
of a cozy is not the same as other mysteries. Timing, level of violence,
(language, sexuality) are all different. But there are similarities. If I don’t
make the town worth visiting, if I don’t make the plot the very best I can, if
the reader doesn’t fall in love with my characters, I will fail, no matter what
the genre.

So I
thought about it. And I dove in. Then, Christmas season, together with a
Christmas cold came and went, and with it my momentum flagged. But I dreamed.
And my partner let me talk at her and, to my joy, she had great ideas I could
use. This is how the trauma of letting go of a previous writing project gets
mitigated. And this is how the wonder of beginning a new, foreign writing
project is embraced.

Will I be a
‘one-trick pony’? Or will I be able to transition from one sub-genre to
another? Time will tell, but if I have
to write—and I do—I might as well write what I really want. And this year, I
want to write a cozy. And to paraphrase Honoré de Balzac, really, it’s all
done. Now, all I have to do is write it.

Thank you Chuck for being our guest this week. We look forward to your coming interview.So Dear Readers, make sure to drop by again and thank you for visiting the Scribbler. We would love to hear what you have to say. Please leave a comment before you go.

4 comments:

Thanks, Allan, for giving me the opportunity to post to your blog. I hope Roger isn't offended by invidious comparisons. And I hope readers are as entertained by my words as by the numerous excellent bloggers who appear here weekly. -Chuck

I enjoyed this, Allan. I like Chuck's writing style. He makes some interesting points about switching sub-genres. I've written 3 books - each in a different genre - and the jury is still out on where I'll be going next! Best of luck with the new book, Chuck 😊

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Allan Hudson

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I started writing later in life, inspired by one of my favorite authors, Bryce Courtenay, who began his writing career in his mid-fifties. It has been one of my most rewarding pastimes. I’ve been an avid reader all my life. It started with Dick & Jane – a primary reader my mother brought home from her work – she was a school teacher and taught me to read at an early age.

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5 Star review for Shattered Figurine

The opening chapter presents the detective, Jo Naylor, with a very important question. One she didn’t really want to answer but knows she must.

The next chapter, one year later, hits you square in the face with full on complicated and violent action as we discover what this story is all about.

Shattered Figurines is a surprisingly unusual detective story in that it doesn’t follow the usual plotline for this genre and the characters aren’t run of the mill either. The author has captured a very real element in both the story and the characters and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

I love a good detective mystery story and Shattered Figurines is one of the best I have read this year. I shall be first in the queue when the author writes another one in this series.

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Drake Alexander Adventure - Book 1. I'm pleased to announce the first two novels in the Drake Alexander Adventures are now available as an eBook at the following outlets. Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, Playster, Book2read, Bibliotheca, Overdrive, Tolino, Scribd, 24 Symbols & Amazon. Soon to be available at other booksellers.

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The Douglas Kyle Memorial Award for Fiction

My story - The Ship Breakers - received Honorable Mention in the Douglas Kyle Memorial awards for New Brunswick Writers Federation's short story category. Published in 2018 in A Box of Memories, a collection of delightful and entertaining short stories.